Friday, 19 August 2011

Smiling Magpie

Today I'm going to introduce you to my friend, Katie, who is fabulous. Katie has done what a lot of us in the ad world secretly wish we could do, and that is leave it all behind to pursue a brand-spanking new career.What separates Katie from the rest of us? A lot of guts. And motivation. And determination. And vision. But mostly I think it's the guts.
In her own words, Katie says "When I tell people that I'm leaving New York to drive cross-country, thrift shopping along the way, the overwhelming response is, "You're so lucky." But it isn't luck. It's life."

"What I want to do forever is find treasure amidst other people's cast offs and bring those treasures to new owners who will love them. That is it. Simple. Along the treasure hunt I want to talk to people about fashion and history and the clothes women wore to live their lives. And I want to smile a lot." Now how amazing does that sound?! And Katie is one of those amazingly charismatic and charming ladies who can have a great conversation with anyone. So I'm sure she's going to come back with lots of stories.
So what exactly is Smiling Magpie? "Smiling Magpie is my vehicle for making this forever come true. I've freelanced at Manhattan ad agencies for nine months and saved enough money to go out on the road for three. I'll be shooting my finds and selling them on my Etsy shop, to help offset the costs of hotels and diner meals, and to show how America looks to me. If this sounds like I hit the lucky jackpot, sobeit, but I know it is decades of questioning, controlling, failing and slowly figuring it out in the making. Not luck, just my amazing life."
The trip officially started on July 18. So get to her site and catch up on the adventure so far at smilingmagpie.com and of course, grab yourself a souvenir from her Etsy store here.

If you are interested in any of the clothes or accessories you see on the site, feel free to email Katie at smilingmagpie@gmail.com for details.